Are there any legitimate sites people can point me to that can run a check of my laptop to see if there is a virus/trojan there? Its acting up and I'm convinced it has something!

Norton picks up nothing..

if you have a separate 'puter and a USB drive, download Malwarebytes onto it. Transfer and install from the USB drive on the suspect laptop.

 

I think Kaspersky do a free online scan also.

 

www.malwarebytes.org

 

www.kaspersky.co.uk

Try trend online housecall

http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner/

 

http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/virusscanner

Malwarebytes

Spybot Search & Destroy(aka Spybot S&D)

HijackMe

SDFix

ComboFix

 

In that order, and in "Safe mode"; dont use the last two unless you REALLY have to, as they can bugger up your system if you make a mistake.

There's also Malwarebytes anti root kit detector (MBAR) and Symantec do an on line security check

https://security.symantec.com/sscv6/GetBrowser.asp?pkj=RXIBZTVOGXFSTZHSZPW&bhcp=1&plfid=00&from=/sscv6/home.asp

if you have a separate 'puter and a USB drive, download Malwarebytes onto it. Transfer and install from the USB drive on the suspect laptop.

 

Apologies to OP for hijacking the thread.

 

I am not computer savvy and ask why you would not download MWB directly to the suspect laptop.

 

Thank you.

Apologies to OP for hijacking the thread.

I am not computer savvy and ask why you would not download MWB directly to the suspect laptop.

Thank you.

The virus may prevent you from downloading it and updating it.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

That  ^^^

What they said...

 

 

Kaspersky also do a boot disk which you can scan the system without it actually being loaded. Most trojans, viruses, hell anything else that gets on to computers, will have or may of embedded itself in to legitimate parts of the operating system.... Another method, if you can, is to remove your disk and scan from a separate computer which has another AV on it. Also please please please, i stress this alot to people, PAY for your antivirus....it's not effective as a fully fledged program.... Goodluck and PM me if you really get into a pickle....

If you can find a name for whatever you have on the laptop, and have problems getting rid, look on symantic.There's a list of downloadable removal tools on there specific to individual virus/trojans .

I use Comodo..  Free and pretty reliable...  The best thing to do is not download items you are unsure of..

Malwarebytes

Spybot Search & Destroy(aka Spybot S&D)

HijackMe

SDFix

ComboFix

 

In that order, and in "Safe mode"; dont use the last two unless you REALLY have to, as they can bugger up your system if you make a mistake.

 

don't just do a search for comboFix there are imposters make sure you get it from bleeping computer.com

Best thing to do is Ctrl, Alt Delete run task manager and screen grab your running processes. Try and expand the descriptions column that should assist with diagnosis. You can always stop dodgy programs running by typing msconfig into your search field. Then click on startup tab and untick any that look spurious. Safemode with networking will sometimes allow you to update your antivirus without any bugs interfering.

There's also Malwarebytes anti root kit detector (MBAR) and Symantec do an on line security check https://security.symantec.com/sscv6/GetBrowser.asp?pkj=RXIBZTVOGXFSTZHSZPW&bhcp=1&plfid=00&from=/sscv6/home.asp

 

Rootkits are about the hardest to remove a real PITA. Pray you don't have one of these.

Rootkits are about the hardest to remove a real PITA. Pray you don't have one of these.

 

Once you have one then might as well get a new disk. They have been known to remain after format unless you do a low level multi format....

Rootkits are about the hardest to remove a real PITA. Pray you don't have one of these.

 

I agree, I had to remove one recently for a work colleague and even now I am not completely satisfied its completely gone. As far as he was concerned his computer was working normally, and indeed nothing untoward was happening. AV Scans showed the PC was clean, but a network packet sniffer showed the computer leaking data and connecting to a remote computer on port 80 so even the firewall did not block it as it looked just like normal web traffic.

 

Rootkits are invisible to almost everything, and therefore very difficult to remove. Only sure fire way of knowing its gone is to wipe the computer and reinstall all your software from scratch, and then copy your files back from backup (only the files and nothing else).

I would suggest that if you run any virus scan or malware bytes that it is done in 'safe mode'. Press F8 on start up. Some viruses stop scans in windows normal mode.